Greens' growing strength threatens to let Bush steal it

Tuesday 27 June 2000 20.41 EDT
First published on Tuesday 27 June 2000 20.41 EDT

New opinion polls indicate that Ralph Nader, confirmed this week as the Green party's presidential candidate, could play a crucial part in November's US election.

With George W Bush and Al Gore neck and neck, the 7% showing for Mr Nader has provoked a debate on the left about whether supporting him may leach away some Democratic support and help Mr Bush and the Republicans.

The American Green party had gathered at the weekend in Denver, Colorado, for a convention which its members hoped would be the prelude to a campaign that would finally put the party on the political map.

As the Greens' candidate in the 1996 election, Mr Nader won 700,000 votes - less than 1% of the vote - but the party is hoping for a much more substantial showing this time.

"The two major parties are not only run on the same well worn set of ideas but their campaigns are funded by millions of dollars provided by the same corporate interests," Mr Nader said. He called the Gore-Bush contest "the drab against the dreary".

The Green party now has organisations in 29 states and has 79 political office-holders nationally.

In Texas it was confirmed last week that 74,000 people, nearly double the 40,000 required, had endorsed the party to ensure its place on the presidential ballot. The party is strongest in California where there are 31 office-holders. In New Mexico, one of its candidates, Carol Miller, got 17% of the vote in the last congressional election.

Four years ago Mr Nader, now 66, was accused of running a lacklustre campaign. This time he plans to seek votes outside the party's obvious constituency and campaign in all 50 states.

He earned his title of "consumer advocate" 35 years ago when he exposed the failings of the motor industry and there are now plans to film his book, Unsafe At Any Speed, which catalogues his challenge to one of the country's most powerful lobbies. But his more immediate task is to convince the left to campaign for him.

Last week, his campaign received an unexpected endorsement when the Teamsters union leader, James Hoffa, appeared publicly with Mr Nader and said that it was vital that he was on the presidential ballot in November. "No one speaks stronger on the issues important to American families than Ralph Nader," said Mr Hoffa.

Mr Hoffa's intervention signalled to the Democrats and their presidential hopeful, Vice-President Al Gore, that if some of their traditional backers fall in behind Mr Nader, they could suffer serious damage in a close race with the Republicans.

Equally, the Republicans and their contender, Mr Bush, will be watching to see how the Reform party candidate Pat Buchanan fares as conservatives could drift from Mr Bush to Mr Buchanan if they think he is making any headway; currently he is polling well below Mr Nader.

His vice-presidential running mate is Winona LaDuke, a Native American activist educated at Harvard. Her speeches have concentrated on poverty, urban decay, civil rights and disparity of income while Mr Nader leads on the issues of globalisation, corporate power, media monopolies, blue-collar jobs, consumer rights and the environment.

Although sometimes accused of lacking sufficient charisma to mount a serious challenge to the main parties, Mr Nader has been entertaining gatherings this year with witty and biting speeches, mocking the local media's political coverage and the compromises made by the main candidates to accommodate their backers.

Mr Nader's own finances came under scrutiny last week when he opened his accounts and was shown to have assets worth $3.9m (£2.6m). He said he normally gave 80% of his earnings - $512,000 in the previous 16 months from speaking engagements - to civic causes. Mr Nader, who lives in Washington, does not own a car or property.

The Green party campaign received a setback last week when the commission on presidential debates confirmed its decision to deny Mr Nader and Pat Buchanan a place in televised prime-time debates during the campaign, on the grounds that they had taken less than 15% of the vote in national opinion polls.

Mr Nader has responded by filing a civil law suit arguing that those who stage the debates, which cost around $550,000, are making illegal contributions to the Democrats and Republicans because of the publicity the debates will give them.